Religion and Discrimination: A Review Essay of Persecution and Toleration: The Long Road to Religious Freedom
中文摘要
Noel D. Johnson 与 Mark Koyama 的著作《迫害与宽容:通往宗教自由的漫漫长路》考察了中世纪欧洲宗教、国家行为与自由主义发展之间的联系。该书讨论了“条件性宽容”模型;宗教与国家之间的互动如何影响对少数群体的迫害与歧视;以及宗教自由最终如何为科学进步、自由主义和经济增长铺平道路。该书探讨了财政能力、欧洲的反犹主义、包括黑死病在内的瘟疫、西班牙宗教裁判所中的异端审判、巫术审判、纳粹大屠杀、气候冲击以及新兴宗教少数群体所在城市的增长等问题。该书围绕中世纪欧洲的一系列国家展开对这些议题的讨论,为其核心论点提供了丰富的历史细节与阐释深度。这是一部发人深省的著作,对新宗教经济学作出了重要贡献。该书考据严谨、构思精巧,其讨论的主题与提出的观点不仅与其主要关注的中世纪欧洲社会相关,也与当今世界各地的经济体息息相关。(JEL D72, N13, N33, N43, Z12)
Abstract
Noel D. Johnson and Mark Koyama’s book, Persecution and Toleration: The Long Road to Religious Freedom, examines the links between religion, state action, and the development of liberalism in medieval Europe. It discusses a model of “conditional toleration”; how the interaction between religion and state influences persecution and discrimination against minorities; and how religious freedom eventually paved the way for scientific advances, liberalism, and economic growth. It tackles issues such as fiscal capacity, anti-Semitism in Europe, plagues including the Black Death, heresy in the Spanish Inquisition, witchcraft trials, the Holocaust, climate shocks, and the growth of cities with emergent religious minorities. It discusses these issues for a range of countries in medieval Europe, providing rich historical detail and interpretive depth for its main argument. This is a deeply evocative book that makes an important contribution to the new economics of religion. Carefully researched and thoughtfully crafted, the themes it discusses and the ideas it raises have relevance not only for medieval European societies, with which it is principally concerned, but also for contemporary economies everywhere. (JEL D72, N13, N33, N43, Z12)